Happy Thanksgiving

I figured the best way to celebrate Thanksgiving was to go out photographing! So I got my butt up while it was still dark, took care of Hazel and the kitties, made my coffee and hustled out of the house. Yeah! I was rewarded with an amazing sunrise! A great start to the day!

I thought about going to Barr lake but decided to just head down to my favorite spot. It was an easy drive today as it was a holiday......

We have had some warm weather so some of the ice had melted since last week. Mostly there were gulls, geese and mallards in the open water.....

So I hiked to the back pond to see what was going on. There were a couple of pairs of mallards along with a golden eye and a hooded merganser.....

The golden eye was having a bit of Thanksgiving himself. Time stood still as I watched him fishing and eating.......

 This ring billed gull flew in hoping to steal a crayfish from the golden eye. He hung out for awhile but finally left ......

The mallards were flying in and out. I finally got a halfway decent pic of a landing......

 I completed one lap and almost started another lap. But it was pretty quiet, so I decided to drive up to Prospect park in Wheatridge.
As I drove past the library towards Wadsworth ave, I spotted a red tail enjoying some breakfast on the grassy island. So I drove to the traffic light, made an immediate u-turn and found a place to park the car. What a gorgeous bird! And I was so happy I did not do another lap as I would have missed this guy......

After finishing her breakfast, she flew off to enjoy the day. I headed up to Prospect but it was very,very quiet. So I headed home. I took the back road home to enjoy the views of the mountains. There was a truck behind me that seemed in a bit of a hurry even though I was going 5 miles over the speed limit. So I decided to pull over in the big dirt lot by MacClasin blvd to enjoy the views.
As I pulled in I spotted a red tail sitting on the pole.

And check out the flatiron views!

So I'm sitting in my car enjoying the views and the red tailed hawk when a small flock of birds flies in. At first I think they are just sparrows but then I realize they are something very cool! They are horned larks! I have never seen these birds before so I was quite excited. It was a challenge to get some pics as I knew if I opened the car door, they would be gone. So I got what I could from the car window. And you can bet I will be looking for these birds again!

Check out the feathers on the head to see why they are called "horned" larks.

I finally got home and now it was Hazel time! Sure we had sub zero temps recently but today it was 60'. So Hazel got to go swimming! She was sooo happy! We went up to the Boulder rez and I threw the ball until my arm was tired......

So we all had a very happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all did too!